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Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

On the eve of the Pacers’ nationally-televised matchup against the New York Knicks, Bird on Wednesday offered his honest assessment about the team that he helped build into a 30-7 contender. Though Indiana has the best record in the NBA as the regular season approaches the midway mark, Bird believes that the team’s bad habit of sloppy ball handling could prove costly when the games matter the most.

“Turnovers,” said Bird, answering quickly on what the team can still improve. “Turnovers will be their downfall. If they go down this year, it will be because they turn the ball over too much.”

Good article, worth a read. I didn't realize that Reggie would be here tonight for the Knicks game.

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Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

the basketball Jesus knows all.

Last edited by Slick Pinkham; 01-16-2014 at 12:50 PM.

The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).
I'm (maybe) back after being repetedly banned, merely for supporting a different NFL team than do certain forum moderators.

Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

I'm alittle sour on Reggie Miller right now. Where was he for the Pacers before our Game 7 in the ECF? There has never been any mention of a Pep talk to the guys. Yet he made a very well known appearance for Mark Jackson's team after they won their first series.

Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

I'm alittle sour on Reggie Miller right now. Where was he for the Pacers before our Game 7 in the ECF? There has never been any mention of a Pep talk to the guys. Yet he made a very well known appearance for Mark Jackson's team after they won their first series.

Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

I'm alittle sour on Reggie Miller right now. Where was he for the Pacers before our Game 7 in the ECF? There has never been any mention of a Pep talk to the guys. Yet he made a very well known appearance for Mark Jackson's team after they won their first series.

Reggie called a regular season game against the Knicks last year too. They played a tribute video and he then stood up to take a standing ovation from the crowd.

Someone asked Reggie last year if the Pacers have ever invited him in to work with any of the players and he said no. He said he doesn't know why. I'll try to see if I can dig that up. I thought it was strange that Reggie felt like he needed an invitation to drop in on the team though.

However, Reggie is narrating a special regarding the Pacers tomorrow night on NBATV so maybe they have brought him in this year to speak to the team or he might do it today.

Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

I'm a little sour on Reggie Miller right now. Where was he for the Pacers before our Game 7 in the ECF? There has never been any mention of a Pep talk to the guys. Yet he made a very well known appearance for Mark Jackson's team after they won their first series.

Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

Another cool tid-bit, which we often also get frustrated with:

“One of the problems with this team, we dribble too much. Guys dribble too much,” Bird said. “The pass is always going to get there a lot quicker than dribbling through there, and they haven’t really figured it out yet.“If you’re going to win big time in this league, you can’t be standing out there pounding that ball, getting the shot clock down to 14 seconds every time.”

Lance does it way too much. He can take a guy off the dribble and make a play for somebody every time. He (doesn’t) need to be out there pounding,” Bird said. “Paul George pounds it. Get where you’re going, make the pass, it’ll probably swing back to you then you’ll get your pick. You’ll be able to get in the lane and make a play.”

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Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

That, and the truth is that if they managed to really pin this problem down, the other, more subtle/nuanced issues the die hards can point to are not likely to cause them to lose in the playoffs, so keeping it simple in this case isn't really a bad thing.

If we control our turnovers pretty well, barring new unforeseen serious issues, we will probably at least make the Finals.

Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

If we control our turnovers pretty well, barring new unforeseen serious issues, we will probably at least make the Finals.

It's a combination of turnovers and executing offensively during crunch time in tight situations. That offensive meltdown in the fourth quarter in Miami last month is something that cannot happen if we are to eliminate them in the playoffs.

Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

It's a combination of turnovers and executing offensively during crunch time in tight situations. That offensive meltdown in the fourth quarter in Miami last month is something that cannot happen if we are to eliminate them in the playoffs.

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Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

I'm more concerned about the offensive rebounding. Our Offensive Rebounding Rate is 20th in the league. We can nullify turnovers by creating extra possessions, but an inability to get offensive rebounds is setting ourselves up for failure. Last year we were 4th in offensive rebounding.

Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

Sure the stat is obvious. But what isn't obvious is why to do commit turnovers? Our style of play on offense will always keep the Pacers from being at the top of the NBA for fewest turnovers. We try to pass the ball a lot. We try to have all 5 starters capable of initiating some of our offense. We don't have 1 player who dominates the ball.

Honestly, the total number of tturnovers in and of itself doesn't bother me. What bothers me is what really good pressure defense does to our offense. We don't handle that well. That is IMO our biggest weakness. But of course that is in many ways related to turnovers, but it also causes us to work the shot clock down too far. And it just so happens the Heat when they are motivated play the best pressure defense in the NBA.

Because in theory we could have a game where we commit 10 turnovers and be totally taken out of our offense and have a poor shooting %, and have to throw up a lot of bad shots with the shot clock winding down. So in other words as a coahc you don't/can't change your offense just to get fewer turnovers, that won't help. Turnovers are a result of type stat in the majority of cases. I mean sure there are careless turnovers, but that is probably 25% of our total

Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

I'm more concerned about the offensive rebounding. Our Offensive Rebounding Rate is 20th in the league. We can nullify turnovers by creating extra possessions, but an inability to get offensive rebounds is setting ourselves up for failure. Last year we were 4th in offensive rebounding.

How much that have to do with the Pacers increase in FG%? Last year they had an offensive rebounding rate of 30.3%. This year it's 24.7%. Pacers last year averaged 13 offensive rebounds (12.9) while this year it's 10.4. Surely one or two a game is from hitting the first shot, instead of missing it, rebounding it, then scoring. They bump that up by 1.5 and they're back at 6th-7th.

Re: Bird Warns Pacers about Turnovers

I'm alittle sour on Reggie Miller right now. Where was he for the Pacers before our Game 7 in the ECF? There has never been any mention of a Pep talk to the guys. Yet he made a very well known appearance for Mark Jackson's team after they won their first series.

Just because Reggie didn't do a pep talk doesn't mean he hasn't been involved in playing a role with helping this team:

Hall-of-Famer Reggie Miller earned the typical loud cheers and standing ovations that he receives every time he’s back at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, as he was Thursday to serve as an analyst for TNT’s broadcast of the Pacers and New York Knicks.

What we didn’t know, until postgame, was how much of an impact he’s had on Pacers’ budding superstar Paul George over the last nine months. George and Reggie Miller didn’t have a relationship until the 2012 playoffs, when they first connected.

David Benner, the team’s director of media relations, reached out to Miller and set it up with the help of then team president, Donnie Walsh. Back when Miller was playing, Benner was known for bringing Miller a drink and then firing him up for each game by trash talking.

Last season, George had to carry an unexpected burden as Danny Granger was sidelined for all but five games due to a knee injury. He struggled with it at first, as did the team, but then his game took giant leaps en route to being named the NBA’s Most Improved Player.

Come playoff time, where he averaged just 9.7 points during the 2012 postseason, the Pacers needed George to reach even higher even further. Yes, togetherness is the team’s motto and any player can step up at any time, but championship-caliber teams also need a go-to guy.

And that’s when Miller, who played every one of his 18 NBA seasons with the Pacers, began being of assistance to George. They exchanged a lot of text messages, and occasionally talked on the phone.

“It was a new stage for me,” George said. “Going and being a star on the rise and handling the media pressure and just handling stepping on to another stage. He helped me with understanding and learning, and he taught me how to handle myself going through that situation.”

That, and more, is why George went out of his way to walk across the court after the Pacers suffocated the New York Knicks, 117-89.

“Reggie’s the man,” George said with a big smile. “You don’t let Reggie walk out of here without getting a hug from him. Reggie’s the one I’ve got the most respect for, someone I look up to.

“It was good to thank him for that and let him know I’m behind him as much as he’s behind us.”

Miller wasn’t made available to comment.

Lance Stephenson, who posted a career-best 28 points against his hometown team, was the first to dash over to Miller following his postgame television interview.

“You know I got to say what’s up,” said Stephenson. “He’s the man. I just said, ‘What’s up, how you doing.’ That was my first time actually meeting him in person. He just said he’s happy that I’m playing well right now.”

George already has already topped Miller in some franchise records, like the most made 3-pointers in a game (9). Just 23-years-old, and an understanding that he’s going to be with this organization for the foreseeable future after signing a five-year extension in late September, George has other personal goals in mind.

“I don’t want you guys to take this out of context, but he’s somebody that I look at and at the end of the day, I want to say I was the best Pacer to play here,” said George. “He set the bar high, he set the limits high and that’s just out of respect.

“I feel like if I get to that point and the next up-and-coming guy is ready to take that, I’ll be all for it. I just want to challenge him for it and it’s another bar that I can set, and be happy to accomplish.”

With George’s defensive play, which has coach Frank Vogel proclaiming him the best wing defender in the game, George finishing his career as the best player in franchise history is a real possibility. Look out, because when George sets out for something, he typically accomplishes it.

"Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "
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Biggest stage of their careers, a Game 7 ECF on the road, and the greatest Pacer of all time was in the arena. Don't you think it would have been a welcome visit by one of the great clutch performers in the history of the sport? Thats all I'm sayin.. Maybe they dont' come out and throw up on themselves that game and make it very competitive or even win? They were a deer in headlights.

To me it says more that guys like Lance Stephenson haven't met Reggie Miller before last night. Maybe thats on the young players for not reaching out until now. But in big time playoff game they aren't reaching out and asking for a Reggie Miller pep talk. Reggie Miller needed to show up and deliver one for them.